Smilegate’s first overseas game development studio, Smilegate Barcelona, has closed its doors. The global gaming industry’s restructuring winds are also affecting Korean game companies.
Stephane Blais, former World Director of Smilegate Barcelona, announced on LinkedIn on the 27th (local time) that “Smilegate Barcelona is closing its doors. All staff are being laid off.” Edouard Albert, who served as a producer, indicated his availability for employment by posting the hashtag “#OPENTOWORK” and stating, “My journey at Smilegate Barcelona has ended.”
Smilegate Barcelona was Smilegate’s first overseas game development studio, established in July 2020. Smilegate recruited developers from global game development companies such as Rockstar, Ubisoft, and Crytek. By this, it expressed its ambition to develop AAA-grade games mainly for consoles such as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S at the Barcelona studio.
In December 2021, they expanded their office to the 13th floor of Torre Glòries located in Barcelona and strengthened their capabilities by increasing the number of developers.
However, Smilegate Barcelona could not avoid the restructuring storm that has hit global tech companies. Since the second half of last year, massive layoffs have occurred in the global IT industry. Startups and even giant tech companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are no exception. There are talks in the industry that this situation reminds them of the Dot-com Bubble in 2001.
This also applies to the gaming industry. This year, in February, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) carried out a large-scale restructuring targeting its global branches, resulting in some studios closing.
Stephane Blais commented, “As our industry is gradually transforming into a battleship game, it’s now our turn to take a hit,” adding, “The past six months have been very challenging.”
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